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Should I ship a Word Game Simulation game?
Simulation + Word Game
Of 158 developers who shipped a Word Game Simulation game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 205 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×449 the market median. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 205 games are announced against 92 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,346) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,869) |
| Top 5% | $282k (exactly $282,143) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 158 |
| Released games | 421 |
| Announced | 205 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue up 70% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Word Game
- effort 1 / 10 · high · dictionary logic and simple UI
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Word Game; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 29,815 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 7 in 10 of the 86 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 205 games are announced against 92 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Cyber Manhunt 2021 · $4.4M 
Mandate Of Heaven 2025 · $2.4M 
Sweet Home 2025 · $2.4M 
Cyber Manhunt 2: New World - The Hacking Simulator 2025 · $2.0M 
Retirement Simulator 2022 · EA · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cyber Manhunt | older | $9.99 | 14,520 92% | 436k | $4.4M (exactly $4,351,644) | Aluba Van+ |
| | Mandate Of Heaven | $14.99 | 5,446 91% | 163k | $2.4M (exactly $2,449,066) | 木焱工作室 | |
| | Sweet Home | $7.99 | 9,910 94% | 297k | $2.4M (exactly $2,375,427) | 开心茶房 | |
| | Cyber Manhunt 2: New World - The Hacking Simulator | $12.99 | 5,191 92% | 156k | $2.0M (exactly $2,022,933) | Aluba Van+ | |
| | Retirement Simulator | · EA older | $13.99 | 3,757 34% | 113k | $1.6M (exactly $1,576,813) | DoubleThink Studio |
 | Our End of the World | older | $9.99 | 4,453 79% | 134k | $1.3M (exactly $1,334,564) | 橘子班, 大好网 |
 | 风信楼 | older | $11.99 | 3,423 94% | 103k | $1.2M (exactly $1,231,253) | Pingfang Games |
 | Wordle | older | $30.62 | 1,147 80% | 34k | $1.1M (exactly $1,053,634) | PreoNus Games |
 | CaseCracker | older | $9.99 | 3,314 89% | 99k | $993k (exactly $993,206) | BlackRobe |
 | S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH | $13.99 | 2,324 90% | 70k | $975k (exactly $975,383) | U0U Games | |
 | V-LOVER! | $10.99 | 1,439 89% | 43k | $474k (exactly $474,438) | Hentopia | |
 | Noun Town Language Learning | $19.99 | 708 84% | 21k | $425k (exactly $424,588) | SUPER HYPER MEGA | |
 | xiuzhen idle | $5.99 | 2,313 79% | 69k | $416k (exactly $415,646) | 游戏养家工作室 | |
 | Mr Right Simulator | $12.99 | 724 94% | 22k | $282k (exactly $282,143) | 男神模拟器工作室 | |
 | 错过的暑假可以放第二次吗？ | $6.99 | 1,229 99% | 37k | $258k (exactly $257,721) | 麻溜完结制作组 | |
 | Cellveillance | $15.99 | 531 85% | 16k | $255k (exactly $254,721) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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